Pulled Coupling Caps

[km6xz]

Actually, I am a bit shaggy now, a GF prefers the wild and crazy look.
I would not even care about GW's appearance if he was a honest decent guy but every bit of what I have seen suggests sleaze and snake oil.
Overall, of all the industries I have been involved with, musicians tend to be the most honest and reasonable. Try dealing with record labels or travel service industry, or manufacturing or real estate or auto services/sales/competition, clothing(high end and ready to wear) and you begin to appreciate musicians.

[Chuck H]

It is precisely because of the sleazy end of the music biz that I'm not a professional guitar player. I never had a problem with the musicians. Now I avoid the sleazy end of other businesses by being self employed. Anyone know how to side step the sleazy end of small business laws and taxes!?! It's just a law of nature that aggressive, greedy animals rise to the top of the monetary ladder. Most people are either subservient enough to work steady as an employee or have trouble balancing their morals with the game. Those that don't suffer these afflictions seem to do better. With Stan (seemingly) being the rare exception as someone who is intelligent and spiritual enough to find productive paths through the maze of cultural and economic obstacles without the need to walk over other people and pick their pockets on the way across.

[dumbassbob]

Now my amp is being held Hostage,He wants more money if I want my amp back...It's been there almost a year and when I talked to him today he started saying he did this and that to it,and everything was my fault,I told him to put the "secret cap" back in and that was the problem...All I asked him was why he had someone pull All the couplin caps...He has turned everything I said a year ago around to save his ass,then tells me hes not a ripoff.All I asked was to make the amp sound like it did 3 years ago...Now It looks like a total of $1300 and over 3 years...All I want is my amp back,and I have learned a lesson...Never tell someone to fix your amp,Have them Tell you what they found first..I am sorry for crying here for so long...

[J M Fahey]

Now It looks like a total of $1300 and over 3 years...

Yup

and I have learned a lesson...

Sorry, but not so sure about that.

You'll simply search for another Saviour who will keep draining your pockets.

Not trying to sound rough at all, but somebody has to tell you this.

Sorry again, no offence meant or implied.

[The Dude]

"Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."............George Bush

......also a Texan.

[The Dude]

I'm going to preface this post by saying that I'm neither friend or foe of Gerald or the OP. I don't know either of them personally, which is the point.

We should be cautious while making generalizations here. There are two sides to every story, and we've only one side told here. I'm not calling the OP a liar at all, nor am I calling GW incompetent given that we have no actual proof of what's stated here. What I'm saying is that we only have 1/2 the story. This thread could be started by a sincere person telling the complete truth, OR it could be that GW's dog crapped on his lawn. You wouldn't like it if one of your customers started badmouthing you all over the web just because, for example, he didn't realize that your estimate did not include sales tax.

Again, this is not a judgment of whether GW is competent or not; nor is it a judgment whether the OP is spot on or misunderstands the facts. I'm just saying we should be careful in our responses.

[Enzo]

Regardless who is at fault, if you feel wounded, there are legal path to take. If your gear is being held hostage, contact the attorney generals office in Texas and ask to start a claim of fraud. A consumer complaint. They will have a proper name for it. Same deal as a person claiming they got a lemon new car, or someone contacted to put in a driveway and never did.


Unless you are looking for monetary compensation, most guys when sent papers from the state will think "Oh just send the guy's amp back and be done with it."

[Tom Phillips]

For anyone who is interested, I found the other (original?) thread about this sad amp story at http://music-electronics-forum.com/t27768/

[dumbassbob]

For anyone who is interested, I found the other (original?) thread about this sad amp story at http://music-electronics-forum.com/t27768/

I am a idiot,never send your amp out of state,unless you are a rich rockass.I thought I was sending it to the best,Got the worse

[Chuck H]

Thanks, Tom, for helping to bring things up to speed and into perspective.

Dude has a good point. For all we know Gerald (or one of his team) has been doing competent work. But for some reason Bob doesn't like the way it sounds. So Gerald says "Well I sure as hell fixed it. What's actually wrong?"... Then Bob explains that is "just doesn't sound right" and then a discussion between Bob and Gerald translates into more work. Not necessarily continued work. But we don't know (nor am I interested) in such finite details. Gerald is a known hustler and Bob is, well, self admittedly prone to questionable decisions. It's a match made in heaven! But now Bob is realizing that the benefits of this relationship are lopsided. Because I don't know how everything actually went down, I don't know that Bob has grounds for a legal claim of any kind.!. Thank you Dude.

Bob!... BOB! ARE YOU LISTENING!.. Do as Enzo said and call the Attorney Generals office in Texas to find out what kind of claim you MAY be able to file. Then call Gerald and tell him what's coming. You may get your amp back without further complication. You have nothing to lose and you get nothing if you don't try!!!

Get your amp back as cheaply as possible and end this relationship.

Oh, and take Juan's advice too. Don't fall into another dysfunctional, guru driven tone quest. Just get your amps working proper and play your guitar. Any magic tone your Bandmaster HAD because it was old, possibly on the edge of failing and had a "mystery cap" in it is long gone. Good players only need properly functioning amps. There is no magic tone. Just the skill to make magic with the tone you have.

[The Dude]

For anyone who is interested, I found the other (original?) thread about this sad amp story at http://music-electronics-forum.com/t27768/

Thanks for the link, Tom. I wandered through the thread and even watched some YouTube videos of GW's. It doesn't change my opinion about knowing fully what's going on with this particular amp story, but I will say this. After watching his videos, there is no way I would let this guy work on anything of mine!

[olddawg]

I am a idiot,never send your amp out of state,unless you are a rich rockass.I thought I was sending it to the best,Got the worse

Don't beat yourself up Bob. It gets tricky anymore with obsolete technology. What you can do? My brother-in-law just sent me his 1964 Impala AM radio from Missouri because he could not find anyone in 3 states to work on it and didn't want to roll the dice sending it to New Jersey. I'm in CA. I fixed it with as handful of caps and setting the bias on the germanium output transistor. But I'm family. I have a degree in electronics and I have 40 years experience. Truth is. Anytime you use a service that you are not intimately familiar with you are taking a chance. I made a living for years cleaning up people's messes. Your case, while a bit long and convoluted, is not all that unusual. It's also why so many people want to learn to service their own vintage gear. Sometimes you just can't find a competent shop near you or the local shop just ships it out to another idiot.

[Chuck H]

GW must have a pretty good hustle because he's managed to attach himself to some pretty good stuff. For example, I have a Kendrick 10" that I like very much. I don't know who makes them!?! But it sounds good. He's was in with a guy in Tx that wound iron who had (has?) an excellent rep. He even worked with Ken Fischer on a couple of projects! Not bad for a meat packer gone amp enthusiast. I can only guess why he got out of the meat biz. Probably gave the wrong person a bum steer!.. Badum bump.

[The Dude]

Bob,

Perhaps if you post your location here, there's a competent tech on the boards that can help you out when you do regain possession of the amp.

[Tom Phillips]

...Perhaps if you post your location here, there's a competent tech on the boards that can help you out when you do regain possession of the amp.

I was on that path a year ago (my post #23) but I didn't get a response. Now I'm concerned about the overall weirdness of the whole situation. It would be interesting to see photos documenting the condition of the amp and showing the workmanship but it remains an unseen phantom. It does hurt my heart to hear of people and vintage Fender equipment being treated like this but now it's starting to seem more like a bad dream. I think anyone who has read all of both threads will understand what I mean.
Regards,
Tom